Retailers said demand for 3G smartphones has been declining over the past two or three months, in the run-up to the launch of services by Reliance Jio.Writankar Mukherjee&Gulveen Aulakh | ET Bureau | September 21, 2016, 09:02 IST

KOLKATA | NEW DELHI: Third-generation (3G) smartphones are headed for a quick exit in India, with prices of the more advanced 4Gdevices plunging and plans by large manufacturers to completely withdraw from the segment in six months.

Samsung Electronics, Oppo, Vivo, Lenovo-Motorola, HTC, Micromax Informatics and Panasonic have decided that they will now launch only 4G smartphones and some of them are clearing out their 3G smartphone stocks, four senior industry executives said.

Retailers said demand for 3G smartphones has been declining over the past two or three months, in the run-up to the launch of services by Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Jio, which started commercial operations earlier this month, is offering 4G data and voice services free with almost all major smartphone brands until the end of the year. It has also cut the price of its entry-level 4G Lyf smartphones to Rs 2,999 from Rs 3,999.

Other smartphone makers may follow suit, bridging the gap with entry-level 3G smartphones that are priced upwards of Rs 2,500.

"We are not placing any new orders for 3G smartphones. Manufacturers are not importing any new 3G phones," said Subhash Chandra, managing director of south-based retailer Sangeetha Mobiles.

Samsung, the country’s largest cellphone maker, has only three 3G smartphones in its portfolio and the remaining 22 models are all 4G. While the company did not confirm when it will exit 3G handsets, it said 4G phones are becoming the mainstream.

Sales of 4G devices are picking up because there is already a large base of smartphone users using 3G/2G smartphones, said Manu Sharma, vice president (mobiles business) at Samsung India Electronics.

"Hence, they would want to take advantage of the 4G offering with higher speeds and reduced data tariff plans. The ecosystem of content, services and applications has evolved significantly, which is fuelling adoption," said Sharma.

Chinese rival Oppo India will transit to a completely 4G portfolio from 2017 by discontinuing its sole 3G model, company president Sky Li said. HTC president (South Asia and India) Faisal Siddiqui said with 4G smartphone prices plunging in India, it will exit 3G smartphones by March.

Handsets that support 4G accounted for 65 per cent of smartphone shipments in India in the quarter ended June and are projected to reach 90 per cent of the market by the same period next year, according to Hong Kong-based tracker Counterpoint Technology Market Research.

Counterpoint’s senior analyst Tarun Pathak said a maturing component ecosystem will lower the pricing of entry-level 4G handsets to about $40 (about Rs 2,600) by the end of 2016.

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BSNL is yet to get the department of telecom (DoT) nod for commercially rolling out 4G services while the Narendra Modi-led government is eyeing to launch fifth-generation or 5G technology together with matured markets worldwide in 2020.